Jennifer Nagel is a Canadian
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
.
Her research focuses on
epistemology
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
,
philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world.
The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...
, and
metacognition
Metacognition is an awareness of one's thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. The term comes from the root word ''Meta (prefix), meta'', meaning "beyond", or "on top of".Metcalfe, J., & Shimamura, A. P. (1994). ''Metac ...
. She has also written on
17th century (Western) philosophy, especially
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
and
René Descartes
René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...
.
Education and career
After a B.A. in Philosophy at the University of Toronto, Nagel earned her M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (2000) in Philosophy at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
. Her dissertation, ''The Role of Necessity in Empirical Knowledge'', was written under the supervision of
John McDowell
John Henry McDowell (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology, anci ...
.
In September 2015, Nagel founded a group called Room for More, a Toronto-based group sponsoring Syrian Refugees coming to Canada, in partnership with Humanity First.
Nagel was President of the Central Division of the
American Philosophical Association
The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...
in 2018-19.
Philosophical work
Much of Nagel's research draws on empirical developments from the
cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...
s and
experimental philosophy
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
in order to address longstanding questions in epistemology and philosophy of mind. For example, Nagel is well-known for defending the value of intuitions in philosophical methodology. While the emergence of experimental philosophy in the 21st century has often cast doubt on the reliability of intuitions, Nagel argues that intuitions about particular cases and
thought experiment
A thought experiment is an imaginary scenario that is meant to elucidate or test an argument or theory. It is often an experiment that would be hard, impossible, or unethical to actually perform. It can also be an abstract hypothetical that is ...
s are a legitimate source of knowledge and justification. Nagel also argues, building on suggestions made by
Timothy Williamson
Timothy Williamson (born 6 August 1955) is a British philosopher whose main research interests are in philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He is the former Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of O ...
, that knowledge is a mental state. Whereas knowledge is traditionally thought to be reducible to a form of belief, i.e., a justified and true belief, Nagel argues that knowledge should itself be counted among the fundamental types of mental state, on a par with beliefs, desires, intentions, and so on.
Nagel is the author of ''Knowledge: A
Very Short Introduction
''Very Short Introductions'' (''VSI'') is a book series published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). The books are concise introductions to particular subjects, intended for a general audience but written by experts. Most are under 200-page ...
'', which has been praised as an "admirably clear and engaging" introduction to epistemology. Nagel considers classic questions, including about
skepticism
Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...
,
rationalism
In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...
, and
empiricism
In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...
, as well as more contemporary concerns, such as whether
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...
, "where most articles have multiple and anonymous authors", can be a reliable source of knowledge. In 2023, she gave the
John Locke Lectures
The John Locke Lectures are a series of annual lectures in philosophy given at the University of Oxford. Named for British philosopher John Locke, the Locke Lectures are the world's most prestigious lectures in philosophy, and are among the world' ...
at the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, on recognising knowledge. She argues that human beings have a strong evolved capacity to identify knowledge, but in order to ensure flexibility in our exercise of this capacity, we engage in strategic mapping of others 'epistemic territory': the domains in which they enjoy knowledge. This can involve supposing that others know less than they do, in order to reason about how things would be if they did know less. However useful such strategic thinking about knowledge may be overall, suppositions of ignorance risk confusing our capacities for knowledge recognition, thus explaining the appeal of scepticism.
[ Nagel, Jennifer (2023), Recognizing Knowledge, available at https://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/john-locke-lectures]
Bibliography
* "The Psychological Context of Contextualism" (with Julia Jael Smith), forthcoming in ''The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Contextualism''. Jonathan Ichikawa, ed. (Routledge).
* "Armchair-Friendly Experimental Philosophy" (with Kaija Mortensen), forthcoming in ''A Companion to Experimental Philosophy'', Justin Sytsma and Wesley Buckwalter, eds. (Blackwell).
* "Knowledge and Reliability", forthcoming in ''Alvin Goldman and his Critics'', Hilary Kornblith and Brian McLaughlin, eds.
* "Sensitive Knowledge: Locke on Skepticism and Sensation", in ''The Blackwell Companion to Locke'', Matthew Stuart, ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2015, 313-333.
* "The Social Value of Reasoning", ''Episteme'' 12:2 (2015), 297-308.
* "The Meanings of Metacognition", ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 89:3 (2014), 710-718.
* "Intuition, Reflection, and the Command of Knowledge", ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'', Supplementary Volume 88 (2014), 217-39.
* "The Reliability of Epistemic Intuitions" (with Kenneth Boyd), in ''Current Controversies in Experimental Philosophy'', Edouard Machery, ed., New York: Routledge, 2014, 109-127.
* "Authentic Gettier Cases: a reply to Starmans and Friedman" (with Valerie San Juan and Raymond A. Mar), ''Cognition'' 129 (2013), 666-669.
* "Lay Denial of Knowledge for Justified True Beliefs" (with Valerie San Juan and Raymond A. Mar), ''Cognition'' 129 (2013), 652-661.
* "Defending the Evidential Value of Epistemic Intuitions: A Reply to Stich", ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 86:1 (2013), 179-199.
* "Knowledge as a Mental State", ''Oxford Studies in Epistemology'' 4 (2013), 275-310.
* "Motivating Williamson’s Model Gettier Cases", ''Inquiry'' 56:1 (2013), 54-62.
"Intuitions and Experiments: A Defence of the Case Method in Epistemology" ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 85:3 (2012).
* "The Attitude of Knowledge", ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 84:3 (2012), 678-685.
* "Mindreading in Gettier Cases and Skeptical Pressure Cases", in ''Knowledge Ascription: New Essays'', Jessica Brown and Mikkel Gerken, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2012), 171-191
* "The Psychological Basis of the Harman-Vogel Paradox", ''Philosophers' Imprint'' 11:5 (March 2011), 1-28.
* "Epistemic Anxiety and Adaptive Invariantism", ''Philosophical Perspectives'' 24 (2010), 407-435.
* "Knowledge Ascriptions and the Psychological Consequences of Thinking about Error", ''Philosophical Quarterly'' 60:239 (2010), 286-306.
* "Knowledge Ascriptions and the Psychological Consequences of Changing Stakes", ''Australasian Journal of Philosophy'' 86 (2008), 279-294.
* "Epistemic Intuitions", ''Philosophy Compass'' 2:6 (November 2007), 792-819.
* "Contemporary Skepticism and the Cartesian God", ''Canadian Journal of Philosophy'' (September 2005), 465-497.
* "The Empiricist Conception of Experience", ''Philosophy'' 75 (July 2000), 345-376
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagel, Jennifer
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Canadian women philosophers
University of Toronto alumni
University of Pittsburgh alumni
Canadian epistemologists
Canadian philosophers of mind
Academic staff of the University of Toronto
21st-century Canadian philosophers
20th-century Canadian philosophers
Canadian philosophy academics
20th-century Canadian women writers